The IDF released the names of 10 KIAs early Wednesday following a deadly operation in Gaza City's Shuja'iyya neighborhood. One of the KIAs is the 35-year-old commander of the Golani Brigade's 13th Battalion, Lt. Col. Tomer Grinberg from Almog.
Video: Lt. Col. Grinberg speaking to Israel Hayom reporter Yoav Limor during the Gaza operation / Credit: Israel Hayom
During the Oct. 7 massacre he heroically fought the the Hamas terrorists after they had attacked the outposts in his area, and he shared with Israel Hayom what it was like that day in a lengthy interview. He warned Hamas that Israel was coming for it, saying: "We've spent 15 years preparing; now let's see if Hamas is ready for us."
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In November, not long after the ground maneuver in the Gaza Strip had commenced, I met the battalion commander for a second time, for an article I did deep inside Gaza with Golani soldiers.
During the conversation, when the subject of missing his family back home came up, I surprised him and showed him his little 3-year-old daughter watching a picture of her father on the front page of our paper (featuring his previous interview with me). She excitedly said the word, "Daddy".
When he spoke to me in Gaza I captured him on video saying, "We are working great...we will win, it will take more time, but we will come back home."
During the lengthy interview at the start of the war, he recounted that terrible morning of October 7, when he discovered all the outposts in his sector had fallen, terrorists had breached the fence in the villages there, and 41 of his soldiers had been killed. "In a house in Kafar Aza we found blue-eyed twins next to the bodies of their parents," he said, "The desire to enter – it's for them."
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